Ionian

American  

[ahy-oh-nee-uhn] / aɪˈoʊ ni ən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Ionia.

2. of or relating to the branch of the Greek people named from Ion, their legendary founder.

---

noun

1. a member of one of the four main divisions of the prehistoric Greeks who invaded the Greek mainland and, after the Dorian invasions, emigrated to the Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor.

2. an Ionian Greek.

Etymology

Origin of Ionian

First recorded in 1555–65; Ioni(a) + -an

Example Sentences

With four golf courses overlooking the Ionian Sea, along with an array of pools, spas and restaurants, the complex provides a relaxing backdrop to Thursday's vote.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2025

The storm began over the Ionian Sea and damaged a few other countries on its way to Libya, including Bulgaria and Turkey.

From Salon • Sep. 15, 2023

A satellite image broadcast on state television showed smoke from the Evros fires had drifted across the country to the Ionian islands in the northwest, not far from Italy.

From Reuters • Aug. 23, 2023

According to a European Commission report published this year, in a world that reached four degrees Celsius of warming, tourism would drop by nine percent in the Greek Ionian Islands.

From New York Times • Jul. 26, 2023

Anaxagoras was an Ionian experimentalist who flourished around 450 B.C. and lived in Athens.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan